Damn it
Damn this city
Damn the government
Damn the weak
Damn love
Damn everything….
“Daisy Doe….”
I spun around, hands clutching my chest, staring down the dark hallway at the front door.
Whoever spoke knocked on the wood as it echoed throughout the house, bouncing off the walls. I stalked towards it immediately, careful to step on the floorboards that squeaked the least.
“I know you can hear me… I just wanted to speak to you. In privacy, away from the chaos.”
My mind did backward flips, retracing my steps throughout the day. The voice was but a whisper, impossible to tell who it could have belonged to past the walls.
The hallway grew longer and longer past every step. I didn’t want to rush just in case they were prepared for a fight.
The stranger knocked once again but firmer. I hoped mom didn’t wake up to this.
“The truth is that I’ve been following you… not right… but it’s important. I mean you… and your mother… no harm.”
My heart threatened to fall straight out of my body and on the cold floor. I go faster, not caring if they heard me approach.
As I got to the door, my face inches away from the peep-hole, I focused. A dog barking, another siren, a group of what could be rats or squirrels munching on garbage. Not a single heartbeat stood on the other side.
TICK-TOCK
The floor started to move on its own, shifting and tremblingTICK-TOCK
They knocked again, shaking the entire foundation. Everything I ever did, what I knew, what I could still remember was going to be ripped away from me!
TICK-TOCK
My hands formed into fists as my nails nearly pierced through my skin, my jaw refused to relax as I felt my teeth be put to the test, pins and needles all over me as my muscles tensed. I prepared my legs, getting ready to decapitate whoever dared to threaten me and my family.
TICK-TOCK
“Daisy… don’t be afraid. This is not my doing.”
TICK-TOCK
I swung the door open as the trembling stopped, I heard the voice clearly. Overlord was standing in front of my doorway.
“Jeezus… I’m… you. Why did you do that?!” I let out a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t. Oh you meant the following. Mmm yes, not appropriate.”
I scratched my head, ruffling my brown coily hair trying to focus on what was actually happening, “Do you… need anything… Sir?”
I could have asked him how he knew my name at all but I figured that was besides the point. This was important, it had to be.
“I wanted to speak to you about the Apostates. You said you faced RatKing and the wolf, Andre, am I correct?”
Andre? That sounded like a pretty mundane name, absolutely no aura to it. However a Hero did mention it back at the park. I said yes to which he asked again and if I was sure. I told him to hurry up in the most polite way possible because I was tired.
“The truth is Daisy… things are going to get far more bleak for New Geweld. Those degenerates you fought, well, this wasn’t their first attack. I’ve been tracking them for a long time.”, his voice was full of resentment.
I leaned against the door frame looking down as I listened intently to what the Senior Hero had to say. Any joke I could have thought of disappeared.
“What happened yesterday… was akin to how things used to be. Bloodshed and war throughout the land. No laws or order. Villain Gangs preying on the weak and defenseless on such a large scale, threatening the safety of the country. Young Power-Jack, you could have died.”
“And?”
“And you didn’t. Vino Heights is your home, you protect it and I respect that. But hear me this: with the Apostates setting up New Geweld as their new hunting ground, your people won’t be safe.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, not out of disrespect mind you but, what was he talking about? What about Vino Heights made it a target for ballsy cocksmokers like them? I didn’t imagine them robbing Niko’s Deli or Broker Jewelry and Loan.
He reached his hand out, inviting me to step outside of my home. I hesitated, staring into the abyss inside his overbearing helmet, yet I took his hand anyway.
We walked to the edge of my front lawn as he gestured to the neighborhood.
“Look at this place Daisy. What does it make you feel?”
Hope.
“It’s important to me, not that many people care.”
His cloak fluttered in the wind masking itself into the night, his voice turned harsher then the teeth on his helmet.
“Exactly. Nobody cares about the consequences of their actions. The entire reason the United States and Quasi exist is because of the actions of very selfish people. Villainous people who take what they please, kill who they please, and rape without a second thought. They enslave and they scalp because it benefits them. Your Heights may not be of much in the way of tax revenue but the Apostates don’t care, they will find a way to ruin it. See that Cauca Manufactorum? They will come for it, and you will let them. Getting involved will only cause more damage. People with super powers have the tendency to think they are above everyone, which leads to the weak getting preyed upon first, I’ve seen it. The ground beneath your feet will give up on you… you will fall into the bottomless eternity of the ocean… everything you fought so hard to achieve will end. Unless, you avoid the Apostates at all costs!”
I looked at him… absolutely dumbfounded. I place my hands on my hips and let out a hearty laugh.
“Ok, ok… I didn’t expect you to be this dramatic, Mr… Overlord. I’ve dealt with gangs before and Quasi ain’t shit without formal training. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
I guess he must have been unconvinced by my audacity. Next time I run into them Apostates I gotta make sure the news sees it! Plus, I couldn’t wait to see what other mean bastards they had in their midst, cause there ain’t no way he’s telling me to look out for RatKing.
“This isn’t a game, young Daisy. This city is on its last legs, you can feel it can’t you? It is being lowered into a grave, and the Apostates will be the last nail.”
I started to lose some patience, “Oh yeah? Then why haven’t you stopped them?”
He paused, almost taken aback, until he spoke in a very quiet tone, “They possess things I do not have, which makes them particularly unpredictable.”
“And what makes you think I don’t got what it takes?”
“That's not what I mean and you know it! This is a warning… protect your future… look after your family… and leave the Apostates to me.”
I sighed in irritation, turning my back to him as I walked back inside. I was too tired to go on yapping with strange characters till the sun rose. Perhaps Overlord and mom would be besties, they both encouraged me to run from my problems instead of grabbin’ em by the horns or in my case coat and fur. I told him that I’d leave the Super Villain hunt to him just so he could stop wasting my time. If what he says is true, that the Apostates were the baddest of the bad, rapists, murderers and whatnot, then by God if they make any noise in this town, so much as a pin drop… then I’ll be on them before anyone knows it.
I felt his gaze until I shut the door behind me. For a moment I felt a little bad for the way I reacted. He said good-bye, his voice trembled a bit as he did. I stood on my belief as is my right and legally I can do whatever I wanted to. It was time for my peers, no matter how old or experienced, that I was here to make a difference and they had to start taking me seriously. No more is that little girl with the silly paper ears… she died a long time ago.
I sludged up the stairs, the weight of gravity and time pulling at my eyelids and shoulders. I had an urgent date with DJ Pillow and MC Blankie, and nothing was going to stop me.
Until I heard someone who finally decided to wake up, “Aye, Daisy. Are ya safe?”
I looked down the staircase railings, unable to see my mom but wondering if she had the energy to get up to her room. It was worrying how easily she slept through all of that. For the best anyways, my mom was a scaredy cat, and the sight of Overlord might have been too much for her this late in the morning.
I raised my voice a bit so she could hear me, “Yes mommy, I made it back not too long.”
She croaked between yawns, “Right, right… I left sum dinner for you. Did ya catch it?”
“Yes… it was very good. I’m going to bed now… love you.” I said as I sped up the stairs towards my pink door.
I went into my room knocking off all the plush animals I had carefully placed the morning before with one wave of my hand and dived into the covers. The dirt and smudge from my battle with that bastard RatKing and his monster got all over my beige sheets. My costume reeked of awful. Fuck it, I’ll shower and do laundry in the morning I thought deliriously as my mind slowly drifted into silence.
My mom said, “God bless, child, God bless.”
If only her voice was the last thing I heard. Instead I had the grandfather clock pestering me as I fell asleep, invading my dreams.
TICK-TOCK
TICK-TOCK
TICK-TOCK
Those patties were untouched and cold by the time the sun rose.
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